End Dreamers’ nightmare: DACA deadline delayed, Congress must act

Refusing to rush to the rescue of the Trump administration, the Supreme Court Monday left it to lower federal appeals courts to determine, on the merits in the coming months, whether President Trump has legal authority to revoke protections for Dreamers.

Applaud that nearly 800,000 young Americans brought here as children will, for a bit, breathe easier now that Trump's theatrical tactics — yanking an Obama executive order, assigning a deadline for the program's expiration, then reveling in the game of political chicken it set off — will no longer dictate policy.

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Lament that with that lack of arbitrary urgency comes a dangerous tendency to revert to inertia.

Cued by the President, congressional Republicans have crazily ruled out codifying the Obama executive order's legal protections, even though such a move is supported by 75% of the American people. They demand a grand deal overhauling legal immigration — which is to say, vastly restricting it.

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Since Democrats have no incentive now to agree to such a deal, they are likely to wait for the elections, and then, if electorally empowered, push to pass a standalone DACA bill. While Washington hunkers down for a long, self-serving stall, thousands of people who rightly call themselves American will suffer.

Current Dreamers can — for the moment — renew their work permits for two years. Those whose status had expired can apply again or renew. But that could change the second a lower court rules, and change again when the Supreme Court makes its final judgment on the case.

Meantime, new applications will not be accepted, which means 14- and 15 year-olds can't seek to shield themselves from deportation; neither can those previously eligible but for whatever reason failed to apply.

This is no way to set immigration policy.

Trump created this crisis. Though he claimed to support legal status for Dreamers, he shredded their protections in the first place. Then, sending conflicting signals, he repeatedly blew up potential bipartisan solutions emerging in Congress.

The courts have given lawmakers precious time to come to their senses. We say again: Ignore the President. Save the Dreamers.